WEIL, JACOB:

German educationist and writer; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main 1792; died there Nov. 18, 1864. His first work was "Fragmente aus Talmud und Rabbinen," Frankfort-on-the-Main (second edition of part i. appeared in 1809, of part ii. in 1811). He was an instructor at the Jewish school (Philanthropin) of Frankfort, and from 1818 until 1845 he conducted an educational institute.

In an address which he delivered, Oct. 18, 1816, in the chapel of the school, he expressed the hope that the new era would bring the emancipation of his coreligionists. He had, however, to defend the Jews against the attacks of Rühs and Fries, and refuted them in his pamphlet "Bemerkungen zu den Schriften der Herren Professoren Rühs und Fries über die Juden und Deren Ansprüche auf das Deutsche Bürgerrecht" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1816). Weil was one of the founders (1823) and for many years a member of the board of the Verein zur Beförderung der Handwerke Unter den Juden.